1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to improvements in the design and operation of an article containment area, storage area and system therefore, for use with an article handling apparatus, and is particularly useful for storing, containing and/or handling fragile articles, such as bags of potato chips, in a columnar/stacked manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most prior art article handling mechanisms, more specifically referred to in the description of the present invention as being in the environment of a point-of-sale (POS) article dispenser, rely on a multitude of motors, switches and solenoids for moving various portions of the handling mechanism, and handling of the articles themselves, such as packaged products. Most such machines require one motor, switch and/or solenoid dedicated for each row, column or type of article or package to be handled or dispensed therefrom. Such machines generally suffer from numerous disadvantages, such as poor reliability due to mechanical failures, as well known by those skilled in this art.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,139 represents a significant improvement in article handling devices. It describes the use of a negative air pressure lifter (i.e., article pickup or handling mechanism), which uses suction, i.e., a reduced or so-called “negative” air pressure created by a partial vacuum, for making a secure contact to an article to be retrieved by entering the open top of an article storage bin located in a refrigerated storage area of a vending machine. Although robotic, and specifically suction-type lifting mechanisms are in common use in factory settings, where space limitations are generally relaxed, their use in tight confines, such as an article vending machine, has not gained wide acceptance. Due to the greater reliability and versatility of vending machines of the type which utilizes suction technology for grasping and moving selected articles, it would be desirable to develop new techniques and methods for the operation and control of such machines, as well as for other more generalized article handling mechanisms.
Article storage is provided in the forenoted U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,139 by arranging a plurality of vertically aligned storage compartments or bins within the freezer. Since the articles to be dispensed were frozen, the weight presented on the articles stored in a lower portion of the bin, by the stack of articles stored above, did not present the problem of product crushing. In some applications, however, the articles stored in the bins may be fragile (such as potato chips which are packaged in flexible bags), and means would then be necessary to prevent crushing of the articles stored near the bottom of the bin. Even if article storage in the dispenser used horizontal placement of the article storage bins, fragile articles could still be damaged during transportation of the storage bins from the warehouse or article manufacturer to the actual dispenser mechanism. It is desirable to make the article storage bins so that they have the most capacity possible, for example, by making the bins taller. However, the taller the storage bins, the more the above noted crushing problem is exacerbated.
Furthermore, when the article storage bins store product which is date sensitive, i.e. may get stale overtime, means must also be provided to ensure that refilling/filling of partially empty bins are not only accomplished in a simple and reliable manner, but in a manner which preserves a proper ordering of the product in the bins, i.e. in a manner which maintains FIFO (first in, first out). FIFO dispensing of the product from the article storage bins, helps maintain the quality of the product at the time it is delivered to the consumer. When taller, higher capacity, bins are used, the FIFO problem is also exacerbated if access to the interior of the bins for refilling/filling is only provided at an end of the bin which is opposite from the dispensing end.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,578 entitled VENDING MACHINE FOR PACKAGED COMMODITIES discloses a vending machine wherein the articles to be dispensed are stored in vertical columns. In order to prevent the weight of the articles in the columns from crushing those articles near the bottom of the column, the vertical stack of products is divided into sections, with each section having its own article dispenser at the bottom thereof. Providing multiple dispenses to solve this “crush” problem is wasteful of the article storage volume, as well as requiring the use of many additional electromechanical components.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,072 entitled VENDING MACHINE INCLUDING REFRIGERATION AND OVEN COMPARTMENTS subdivides a vertically oriented article storage magazine into multiple vertically oriented sections. Each section includes a pair of opposed “retention levers” for engaging the bottom product in its section of the magazine. The “retention levers” are operated in a sequential manner in order to shift the stored products, one at the time of each vend, from a higher section to a lower section, until all of the products have been dispensed from the magazine. This technique would be somewhat undesirable for supporting articles comprising flexible bags, since the retention levers would have to extend quite far into the interior of the magazine in order to engage the bags in a supporting manner, and could therefore damage fragile products. Additionally, including a technique such as this in a system of the type described in the forenoted U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,139, it is likely that the retention levers would interfere with movement of the article retrieving mechanism into and out of the storage bins. Even furthermore, the retention levers add significant mechanical complexity to the storage bins.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,476 entitled MODULAR VENDING MACHINE and U.S. Pat. No. 3,175,669 entitled DEVICE FOR VENDING CYLINDRICAL OBJECTS are illustrative of the use of baffles along the inside portion of a vertical column of products, for staggering the distribution of the products in the vertical column, thereby preventing the weight of the products above from “bunching” or “jamming” a product feed mechanism located at the bottom of the column. The use of fixed position baffle elements are not sufficient to prevent damage to a column of fragile articles, such as a stack for bags of potato chips, and in fact the fixed position baffle elements themselves are likely to cause damage to the products.
It would be desirable to provide a relatively low cost and reliable method and apparatus to increase the article holding capacity of the storage bins without adversely affecting the overall quality (freshness and structural integrity) of the articles stored therein, as well as techniques which reduce the effect of external forces on the articles stored therein, such forces being presented to the articles during, for example, transportation from the manufacturer or a warehouse, to the storage area in the article dispenser.
Furthermore, it would be desirable to provide such an apparatus which not only prevents the crushing of fragile products, but also uses a method and apparatus which reduces the handling of the individual products during their transportation from the product manufacture to the article storage area of the article dispenser.